Comforter With Low Heat Retention Characteristic And Method Of Making

ABSTRACT

A bed cover comforter made of multiple fabric layers which are stitched together to form rows of pockets across the comforter each having a number of tiny weights such as metal shot confined therein instead of conventional heat retaining fillers to increase the weight of the comforter without increasing its heat retaining properties to not be too warm while having the feel of a conventional comforter.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No.61/279,649 filed on Oct. 26, 2009.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention concerns bed covers and more particularly comforterswhich have multilayers, and are often quilted to contain fillers such asdown which make the comforter warm in cold weather and also add to theweight of the comforter. Many people grow accustomed to the weight of acomforter when sleeping, and are uncomfortable sleeping under alightweight bed cover.

However, in warmer weather, the heat retaining characteristics ofconventional comforters makes them too warm to be comfortable.

There have been proposed to provide controllable vents in bed covers torelease moisture and heat, as seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,934,985;3,199,123; 2,808,596; and 5,181,287. This requires complex featuresincreasing the cost of such a comforter and requiring tediousadjustments.

Another approach is to create a cooling flow of air within the comfortersuch as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,655,237; and 6,779,592, whichfeature is also a relatively complex and costly solution to the problem.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,107,638 describes removable hatch covers in a comforter,but this requires a tedious adjustment by the user to provide thedesired warmth.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a comforter that isof the same weight as a cold weather cover but which has a low heatretention characteristic so as to be usable in warm weather without anyneed to make adjustment, and to provide a method of making such acomforter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The above object as well as other objects which will become apparentupon a reading of the following specification and claims are achieved bya comforter construction in which multiple fabric layers sewn together,the layers being thin and light weight and without any filler materialso as to provide minimum heat retention.

Instead of heat retaining fillers, a number of small weights, preferablymetal shot or B-B's are held in the sewn together pockets to add weightto the comforter to create a bed cover which will feel the same to theuser as a heavier weight conventional cold weather bed cover comforter,but will not retain heat so as to be comfortable in warm weather.

In the method of making the bed cover, stacked rectangular fabric layersare stitched together on three sides leaving one side open, and a seriesof lengthwise stitching through the layers are sewn parallel to thecomforter two sewn together opposite sides extending from the open sideof the layers to the opposite sewn closed side. The stitchings formflattened compartments open on one end, and a small quantity of tinyweights such as metal shot are then poured into each central lengthwisecompartment defined between the layers, with the open side elevated tocause the weights in each space to move down to the bottom of eachcompartment, i.e., to the sewn side of the layers.

A stitching is then sewn crosswise from side to side a short distanceabove the opposite sewn closed side, thereby creating a row of pocketseach of which holding a small number of shot.

The process is repeated row by row until the layers are completelydivided into sewn pockets, each holding a small number of shot or othertiny weights.

The resulting bed cover comforter feels the same as a heavier weight bedcover suitable for cold weather, but retains much less heat due to theabsence of any heat retaining filler to be comfortable for use in warmweather.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a pictorial view of a bed cover comforter according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of the bed covercomforter shown in FIG. 1 with top layers removed to show the shotcontained in the quilted pockets sewn into the bed cover comforter.

FIG. 3 is a pictorial view of the separated fabric panels of thecomforter shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the fabric four panels of FIG. 3 sewntogether along three sides.

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of the four layers with a series ofparallel stitching dividing the sewn together panels into side by sidefull length open ended compartments, depicting shot being introducinginto a first compartment while the open side of sewn together layers islifted to cause the shot to move down to the bottom or closed end of thecompartments.

FIG. 6 shows two side to side stitchings forming two rows of pocketseach containing several shot, showing a repeat of the step ofintroducing several shot into each shortened compartment.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the completed quilted bed cover with all of thepockets sewn up with several shot in each pocket.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, certain specific terminology willbe employed for the sake of clarity and a particular embodimentdescribed in accordance with the requirements of 35 USC 112, but it isto be understood that the same is not intended to be limiting and shouldnot be so construed inasmuch as the invention is capable of taking manyforms and variations within the scope of the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings, a bed cover comforter 10 according to theinvention includes a rectangular array of sections 12 sewn into thecover 10 by two parallel series of lengthwise stitchings 14, 16 whichare crossed with respect to each other. The cross stitchings 14, 16 formthe sections 12, which provide pockets each holding a small number oftiny weights such as steel or lead shot or B-B's 18.

FIG. 3 shows that the comforter 10 is comprised of four fabric panelsincluding an upper and lower thin outer fabric layers 20 which arepreferably attractive in appearance to be suitable for an bed coveringcomforter.

Two interior thin lining layers 22 are included which are also light inweight and may be of a plain cotton scrim material.

As an initial step, the aligned and stacked layers 20, 22 are sewntogether along three sides A,B,C with the fourth side D left open asindicated in FIG. 4.

Next, a series of spaced apart straight line stitchings 24 are sewnthrough all four layers parallel to the sewn sides A,C, extending fromthe open side D to the sewn closed side C, creating a series of openended flattened tubular compartments 26.

A small quantity of tiny weights, such as lead or steel shot or B-B's 18are introduced into each compartment 26, with the sewn together layerselevated at the open side, causing the shot 18 to settle clown to theopposite closed end of each compartment 16, as seen in FIG. 5. A limitednumber of shot on the order of 7-10 has been found to worksatisfactorily.

A horizontal stitching is then sewn across the fabric layers 20,22,spaced up a short distance from the sewn side B to form a bottom row ofsections 12 a defining closed pockets in which the shot 18 are containedas seen in FIG. 6.

This process is repeated, producing the next row of sections 12 b, andso on, until reaching the open side D, which is then sewn shut as seenin FIG. 7, creating the finished comforter 10. The metal shot 18conducts heat very well such that the comforter 10 does not retain heatto be comfortable in cool weather.

The presence of the shot 18 has been found to create an increase inweightiness of the comforter 10, but without affecting its feel as aperfectly flexible bed fabric cover.

The comforter 10 thus feels like a much heavier weight comforter butwithout the heat retaining quality of a cold weather comforter, whichcan thus comfortably be used in warm weather.

Other tiny weights can be used, such as ceramic beads, plastic beads,small stones, etc. depending on the weightiness desired but metal ispreferred as being highly conductive of heat.

The distributed weight of the bed cover comforter 10 also assists inkeeping the comforter in place on a sleeping person, rather than beingkicked off as often otherwise happens, while at the same time not beinguncomfortably warm due to the absence of any heat retaining fillers.

1. A bed cover comforter comprised of multiple layers of fabric sewntogether to form a pattern of rectangular sections each of which forms aclosed pocket containing a plurality of tiny weights confined therein,thereby providing a distributed weight to the comforter withoutincreasing its heat retention characteristics.
 2. The comforteraccording to claim 1 wherein said weights comprise metal shot.
 3. Thecomforter according to claim 1 wherein two decorative outer covers offabric have sandwiched therebetween two scrim layers which confine theweights in said sewn in pockets.
 4. A method of forming a comforter ofenhanced weight comprising stacking together a plurality of rectangularpanels of fabric material; sewing together said panels on three sideswhile leaving one side open; forming a series of spaced apart parallelstitchings extending from the open side to the opposite sewn togetherside to form a series of flattened tubular compartments extending fromthe open side to the opposite sewn together side which compartments areopen at one end and closed at the other end; introducing a plurality oftiny weights into each compartment and raising the open side of the sewntogether layers to cause them to settle down to the closed end; sewingstitching across the compartments parallel to the closed side oppositethe open side of the panels but spaced a short distance therefrom toform a row of closed pockets each confining said plurality of weightstherein; and repeating said steps to produce additional rows of closedpockets confining said weights until the open side is reached, and thensewing said open side together.